Taco Bell Advergame Delivers Huge Return on Ideas

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Taco Bell's Taco Fu, an advergame created by Agency of Record Draftfcb Orange County, has surpassed the five million game play mark. The official tally as of midnight on July 24, 2008, stood at 5,414,607. The game can be found at www.tacobell.com/tacofu/.

Launched in September 2007, Taco Fu pits players against an evil, hungry horde of "luchadores" as they attempt to steal your Taco Bell food. The average session for each player is just less than two minutes, while the average cost per game play is far less than a penny.

In April, the game was awarded Best Use of Rich Media at the 11th Annual ad:tech Awards.

"Simple ideas can pay big dividends, and Taco Fu is a perfect example of the equal importance Draftfcb places on creativity and accountability," says Sean Hardwick, SVP, group management director at Draftfcb Orange County. "Not only has the game received more than five million game plays since its debut, but when forwarded to friends as a game challenge, it receives an impressive 20 percent click-thru."

During its initial launch, Taco Fu was supported online through a banner campaign, including intermittent Viacom and ESPN placements. The traditional banners performed at a click-thru rate of 12 times higher than industry average.

"Taco Fu provides consumers with an engaging, 'lean-forward' brand experience, which we believe is worth between two and 10 times as much as a 'lean-back' experience," says Scott Johnson, EVP, global executive creative director, Interactive at Draftfcb. "We're excited to continue watching Taco Fu's success, and we look forward to further leveraging this investment by growing its accessibility."

The development of the application was done by Dallas-based Blackdot.

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